Texas Rangers Movie Review

I think it was supposed to come out in 1999, but it was the end of 2001 before Texas Rangers finally rode into movie theaters -- only to ride right out again following a complete lack of publicity. The most interesting anecdote I can remember about the movie's release is an Entertainment Weekly chronology of events on opening day at one theater -- where six people came for the screening.

Following the critically and commercially massacred American Outlaws, Texas Rangers also tried to spin American history with a hippish, young cast, in this case Dawson's Creek star James Van Der Beek, Ashton Kutcher, and Usher Raymond -- as the first recruits of what would become the famous Texas Rangers.

Director Steve Miner (Lake Placid) directs the Old West with considerable oldness and westerliness, but the film ultimately plays out as a series of chopped-together gun battles between the outlaws (led by Alfred Molina in a stereotypical role) and the nascent Rangers, with our hip young stars attempting to cut themselves as credible actors in a "serious" movie.

Otherwise, not a lot of surprises in the story, the acting, or the way this movie is put together. Which might explain why Miramax gave up on it well before it ever came out.